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Wednesday, October 11, 2006

"Lost" Season 3 Episode 2 - The Glass Ballerina

Hello fellow LOST addicts! Welcome to the LOST BLOG VERSION 2.0! You like? I wanted to have it done by the start of the season, but I got lazy. Anyways, here it is and it's totally cool! We've become quite a sophisticated establishment here over the past year. Starting with simple emails that got forwarded around work and to a few friends of friends...all the way to this website that almost looks official! Now, if only we could get someone to write the blog that knows what he or she is talking about! Instead, you'll just have to keep on enduring my relentless ramblings!

So onto "The Glass Ballerina." Again, we continue to slowly unfold season 3 and resolve more cliffhangers from the end of season 2 and setting the stage for this year. What did I think of "Part 2 of 3" of our Season Premiere? Pretty solid episode, albeit, at times boring. But they were able to finally answer some burning questions that we've been anxiously waiting to learn about, as well as present us with a trademark "wow" factor moment in the end. This blog may be a bit shorter for a couple reasons....there's not much to discuss and well it's getting late in the day and I know everyone is anxious to read SOMETHING!

Sun/Jin & Sayid adventures and flashbacks

Seems that the overall theme of this episode revolved around Lies and Deception. Mainly, we follow Sun from early childhood up to the current day and we see her lying. She breaks the Glass Ballerina as a child and lies to her Daddy about it saying the maid did it. Sun fully knows the repercussions of her actions will lead to the maid getting fired yet she still lies. We also finally get our answer to the burning question of if Sun had been unfaithful to her husband in the past (and possibly conceived a child with). The answer is a resounding YES. We still don't know about conceiving the child with LOST Baldy #2 (Locke being #1), but that seems like a safe assumption, even by LOST standards! And if this wasn't enough lies and deceptions, Sun continues to lie to JIN on the island in helping Sayid set a trap for the others. Here's some notes, theories, and questions on this storyline:

This is the first time we're seeing Sun's father since season 1. There were rumors back then that he might be involved with the island activities in some way or even a financial backer. It would seem that the financial backing theories have switched to Charles Widmore based on the season 2 finale.

Jin understands more English than he's led on to believe in the past. This must be a gradual thing because we've still seen him struggling in the past to understand what people are saying. (Sawyer calling him "Daddeo" in season 2 for example) The question is when Jin says he knows Sun deceived him....did he mean on the island? or in the past?

What we do know is that even though Sun's dad sent Jin to kill Jae (baldy) and restore honor to the family, Jin could not do it. We don't know if Jae threw himself out the window holding the Pearls (gift to sun) or if he was forcefully thrown out the window by someone else.

We also know that Sun knew that was what Jin was sent out to do and she let him go do it, just like she let her maid get fired, just like she let Sayid go on with his plan. She knew the repercussions in every instance, but let them happen anyway.

Oh yeah...Sun went ahead and shot Trixie too. Oh, right, her name is Colleen but she's Trixie on Deadwood....that was really confusing for me! That can't be helpful in building future relationships with the others. Especially, since we've seen Danny (known as Pickett from last season) romantically linked to Colleen by their little parting Kiss.

Jae's hotel room was 1516 (the infamous numbers again!)

They may have wanted to wait a bit to have big Sayid and Sun dialogue together until the actors re-familiarized themselves with their characters again. It just seemed like the great big battle of "FAKE ACCENTS" for their big "deception of Jin" talk. I couldn't help but laugh at the whole scene. you could hear Naveen Andrews trying to fight his British accent. Good times.

Guess it's also good to observe that the others did grab the sailboat per henry's orders. so where are Sayid, Jin and Sun going next? To find their friends on foot? or head back? Also, did Henry not know about Desmond's sailboat before then? Did Kelvin not report to them that he was working on it to try and escape? Or was Kelvin not associated with the Others? hmmmmm

Sawyer and Kate (Skater fans Dream!)

Oh yes, I learned in last week's Podcast that there are fans forming separate support groups for Jack and Kate and Sawyer and Kate. And yes, they are respectfully named the JATERS and the SKATERS. Ever since BENNIFER, these naming conventions just won't STOP! Anyway, this week Sawyer and Kate are forced to work together under some intense manual labor with threats to be "SHOCKED" for any communication or slacking off. Lots of things happen in this little storyline.

Sawyer was very flirtatious throughout the whole episode. He was staring at Kate ("Stop staring at my ass", "Give me something else to look at" classic dialogue!) And after he emptied Juliet's canteen...he threw caution to the wind and kissed Kate...causing a big fight to occur. Seems Sawyer had a plan in mind during all of this. While he was enjoying the benefits of getting his dream kiss, he also was able to read his captor's strengths and weaknesses. He mainly thinks that they aren't fighters.....but felt that Juliet meant business.

We see Alex again in this episode! She is still trying to aid the survivors of flight 815 in any way she can. She also confirmed that our boy Carl from last week may not be a PLANT with the others. The producers also confirmed this. He is an "Other" but he is trying to escape. We will learn more about Carl in the weeks to come. We also learn that Kate's new outfit is Alex's dress. bizarre.

What exactly where Sawyer and Kate working on anyway? chopping rocks? for what? It seemed like there was a group of "others" also working with them. too. Are they building something? who knows?

Our buddy Pickett (or Danny) seems to just be a Jerk with a taser. So he's not going to be too pleased to hear that his girl Colleen has been shot, maybe even killed! I know i mentioned it already, but I'm mentioning it again!

As mentioned previously, we see Juliet genuinely trying to be nice again and offer Sawyer the water. But she switched gears when she pulled the gun on Kate. Her intentions are still very unclear. Is she going to help the survivors? Is she trying to get back at Ben/Henry for something? Or is she going to play for both teams for awhile?

Jack in Solitary/Henry enjoying his soaps.

We may have spent about 5-10 minutes with Jack in this episode, but they were the most riveting of the episode! He still is not eating the food provided to him (I think) and is still upset. He had a brief conversation with Juliet in the beginning of the episode but the most rewarding viewing came at the end of the episode. Let's first talk about Henry though.

Yes I'm going to keep switching between Henry, Benry, and Ben. Can you blame me? What else am I supposed to do? Anyway, we saw early in the episode that Ben was in a room with a bunch of TV's very similar to what we saw in the Pearl Station. By the end of the episode we see that he is watching everything that goes on in his Hydra Station....Jack, Sawyer and Kate's discussions, everything. Did he see Alex talking to Kate too? Obviously, he knows that Sawyer was reading his soldiers for weaknesses. How are they going to get out of this little mess they are in?? It seems the Others just have them outsmarted in every way!

Perhaps they'll have to rely on Jack as Henry has started his interrogation of him in a quite pleasing role reversal from last year when Henry was the captive. Henry introduces himself as Benjamen Linus. And that he's been living on the island his whole life.

Ben tells Jack that if he cooperates that they will send Jack home. Jack obviously doesn't believe that Ben has any way to get off the island which leads Benry to rant off what has happened in the 69 days since Flight 815 crashed proving that they have communication with the outside world. GDubbs winning the re-election, Christopher Reeve passed away, Boston Red Sox won the world series. I loved henry's excitement how he explained the improbable scenario of being down 3 games to none against the Yankees then winning 8 straight. And then after Jack laughs in his face, he hits play on the TV and shows the Sox win the series. Fantastic moment. What makes it sweeter? Remember Jack's father used to always use the phrase "That's why the Red Sox will never win the world series." We learn this in season 1 when Jack says it to Sawyer, which reminded Sawyer of his encounter with Christian Shepard. Ahh I love when they link stuff up!

So, does that mean they actually can get off the island? Not exactly. We can't really TRUST Henry, can we? I don't think so. Definitely an unfolding story arc that I'm enjoying! (Just thought of it...also crazy that Colleen knew right away that the woman pointing a gun at her was Sun. It's like they've been thoroughly briefed on ALL of the survivors! crazy)

So we don't know what Henry is going to ask Jack to do, but we can guess it will be to betray his friends. Henry says he will personally take take Jack home if he helps. Something tells me that Jack is not going to betray his fellow survivors. He is their leader, he was unwillingly given that role, but he IS their leader. And he really doesn't have anything to go back to, does he?

Well, that's pretty much the episode in a nutshell. Not really much to delve into. Feel free to add anything I missed. We just are continuing to learn where everyone is and what their current status is based on the crazy finale last season. Next week? We'll catch up with Locke, Eko, Desmond and it appears Charlie and Hurley will return as well! All I've heard is that we shouldn't expect the 3 Hatchlings to come out of the explosion the same as they went in. I'm anxious to see what happens! It looks like Locke was standing up in the previews, so there goes my theory about him being back in a wheelchair due to the magnet being destroyed. But I can confirm that the producers have suggested we may learn WHY he WAS in a wheelchair this season. It's about time!!! I wonder if that will be next week? Not sure who's flashback is up, but it would seem appropriate if it was his.

Alrighty, well hope you enjoyed the write-up. Sorry for the delay, you can expect them to continue being delayed! Crazy Job!!! Don't they know I'm busy?? Have a great rest of the day!

10 comments:

Kathleen emailed this to me and says she's too lazy to post. I thought it was a good theory:

"Oh, I got the impression last night that Sun pushed Jae since he was holding the pearls and then when that flashback was over Colleen was saying to Sun that she doesn't have it in her to kill someone and then she did shoot her."

I actually read something about Sun actually pushing Jae out the window too. Makes sense when you tie it in with Colleen's comments and Sun shooting her. If it was Sun that did it, could definitely be another flashback to fill in the gaps there.

So, I know you said that we're still not sure if Sun conceived a child with Baldy #2, but I wanted to bring up that she DID say something like, "I can't do this. I'm married," to him at the hotel. Soo...maybe they didn't "go all the way," if you know what I mean. That means the baby could still be Jin's or somebody (or something) elses's.

Yes, I want the baby to be Jin's too, but I just knew Sun was doin' the horizontal bop with Baldy #2!

Though given the magical stuff that seems to happen with people's bodies, it wouldn't surprise me to find out the island could change people's DNA too and make Baldy's baby a Jin Junior right inside Sun's womb!

Even though Sawyer told Kate "that blonde chick, she means business" (or something to that affect) after he laid down his rifle during the fight, I was still upset with him for not whipping around and pointing the rifle at Juliet (clearly the alpha character in that little group of Others) as she held the knife against Kate's throat. There was no WAY Juliet was going to kill Kate (Ben would've been very upset), so Sawyer could've taken control of the entire situation.

Ah well, it's TV. As I believe Mike quoted somewhere on this blog, J.J. Abrams said when it comes to choosing between storytelling and plausibility, storytelling will win out every time. And I'm one of first people to agree with that mind set.

Season three is off to a strong start! I'm enjoying the new environs and getting a deeper look at the Others. And I might have to emotionally cheat on Kate by falling in love with Juliet!

Absolutely. I forget if I quoted Abrams on that but I totally agree that storytelling should ALWAYS win!

See...I loved these first 6 episodes of season 3 also. A lot of people were not happy that "not a lot happened". Though, I thought we were learning A LOT about the others. But creatively...the writers were "stuck in cages" like Jack, kate and Sawyer. They couldn't move plot forward until they knew their end date. Starting with episode 7...things start moving at a rapid pace....and by the end of season 3, they locked themselves and end date in place. Good thing too because there was no stopping what they started by the end of season 3! This is viewed as one of the worst seasons of LOST (mainly because of these 6 episodes and a couple others (one which I'm sure you may agree was absolutely awful and I will say flat out was the worst episode of lost) But, in the long run I found these 6 episodes important to the end game of LOST, and I felt that season 3 was really one of the strongest seasons. It has some of my favorite episodes in the series. Once again I'm jealous you're watching for the first time!

As I've already said, I've watched TV show before, up to season 3 finale, but I don't recall (hey, it was 8 years ago) if they reveal whether The Others are working for, or are some other way connected to Dharma or not.

My favourite theory, from back in the day and I'm persisting with it, is that our survivors weren't deliberately sent to the island by any organization, that they weren't handpicked by any human corporation to land on the island, etc... I do think it was a plan all along that all of them end up in the same plane and to land on the island, but plan by mother nature / some other supernatural force rather than human enterprise. The way their lives "interleaved" before the crash and also, the things most of them did in their lives, the way they lived, suggests, at least for me, that they were destined to end up there (yep, my favourite character is Locke :D).

I don't think they are in the Purgatory, and you also wrote that theory has been dismissed by J.J, but I do think they didn't end up there by accident.

Regarding The Others/Dharma, and episodes 1 and 2 of season 3, it does bug me how Ben knew there would definitely be survivors when they saw the plane crashing. Obviously they know the island is special in some way. To add further to my theory, I don't think The Others knew our group is coming or that they knew anything about them before Ben sent Goodwyn and Ethan to collect data. Then, they investigated them using their connection to the outside world, background, family, death certificates etc... to get to know them better and use that against them. They definitely have huge financial backing, is it by Dharma or someone else, I can't tell. During the conversation (with Michael if I recall correctly), one of the others said to him that that station Michael asked about is what is left of Dharma. That makes me think that either money from financial backers who started the project somehow dried up, or they decided to withdraw from it due to different reasons. Who is financing The Others now, I have no idea.

I still can't believe you watched that Season 3 finale (I'd argue the best season finale of all 6 and the 2nd best episode of the series) and didn't watch the season 4 premiere to figure out how they'd continue! lol

Obviously, I don't spoil future plots so I can't tell you if they reveal what's going on with The Others/DHARMA...but will say it's an evolving answer over the course of the series. There's never a flatout sentence in an episode that explains their connection.

Very interesting theories! Well thought out, and I remember thinking through very similar ones too. There will be an answer. The question is when!?

Purgatory -> JJ wasn't really involved after season 1 but I think he did confirm it wasn't purgatory. Damon and Carlton did as well. I don't want to confirm nor deny if they stuck to that or not! But I will happily discuss ad nauseam once you catch up!

All good comments and questions on The Others and DHARMA. I forget what I said back then, but what you're saying makes a lot of sense. :)

To make myself clear, I thought season 3 finale was brilliant. And generally I think that season 3, out of 3 seasons I've watched, was the best. And I also considered Lost back then, and I still do, the greatest tv show I've ever watched. But it wasn't my decision to stop watching it after season 3, simply, station that was showing it back in the day simply decided to stop after three seasons, and considering I don't live in THAT developed country (you could use "third world" term as well), I didn't have much chance to watch it (legally) until now, as recently another station decided to show all 6 seasons, one episode per day.

Ahhhhh....makes more sense!! lol I loved season 3 too. It is very underrated in hindsight because of the early episodes (which I enjoyed as well) and Nikki and Paolo. But there were so many good moments especially in the back half!

Enjoy watching the rest of the series and continue to comment when you can!